EU Commission to backtrack on harmful chemicals ban

The EU executive could be about to cave to industry pressure over its plans to ban certain toxic chemicals under its chemicals strategy, a leaked document seen by EURACTIV suggests. 

In October 2020, the Commission adopted its new chemicals strategy geared towards a toxic-free environment as part of the European Green Deal.

The strategy included a ban on using the most harmful chemicals for consumers, such as those in toys, cosmetics, detergents, food contact materials and textiles, through revising the 2007 EU chemical safety law REACH, which was initially due to be presented by the end of 2022.

“This Strategy shows our high level of commitment and our determination to protect the health of citizens across the EU”, said Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides when the text was adopted.   

But according to the leak seen by EURACTIV, the Commission is slashing its ambition to except, “where essential” and for between 1% and 50% of chemicals, a significant decrease from “most” mentioned in the previous strategy.

The leaked document is an impact assessment by the Commission, dated January 2023, but never made public.

It also shows that removing the most harmful chemicals from the market would represent a health benefit of between €11 billion and €31 billion per year in EU countries, from avoiding obesity, cancer, asthma, infertility and other chemical-related diseases.

For industry, the costs of such measures would be between €0.9 billion and € 2.7 billion a year.

REACH’s revision had been promised for the end of 2022, but EU Commissioners decided to delay it after pressure from the German chemicals industry, said the European Environmental Bureau (EBB) in a press release published Tuesday (11 July). 

The chemical sector is the fourth largest industry in the EU, with 1.2 million employees, making the EU the second largest producer of chemicals in 2018.

“The EU’s failure to control harmful chemicals is written in the contaminated blood and urine of all Europeans”, EEB Head of Chemicals Policy Tatiana Santos said.

“Yet, the Commission is preparing to allow the most harmful chemicals to continue being used in at least half of products where they are currently used, despite its assessment that health-related savings will vastly outweigh costs to industry,” she added. 

EU agency to start evaluation on ‘forever chemicals’ ban

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) published its much-awaited proposal aimed at restricting 10,000 synthetic substances hazardous to human health, with the evaluation process set to start in March.

“Alarmingly high” level of chemical

Results of a study by the European Human Biomonitoring Initiative (HBM4EU) published on Tuesday show that European citizens are exposed to “alarmingly high” levels of hazardous chemicals, especially children. 

HBM4EU is a €75 million five-year programme involving 116 government agencies, laboratories and universities – that tested for the presence of 18 of the most problematic groups of chemical substances in urine and blood samples from more than 13,000 people from 28 European countries.

“Everyone is over the line”, said Professor Andreas Kortenkamp from Brunel University in a presentation. 

In 2020, about 230 million tons of chemicals dangerous to health were consumed in the EU, “including over 34 million tons of carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic chemicals. Many of these find their way into our bodies”, said Marike Kolossa-Gehring, coordinator of HBM4EU.

Toxic chemicals include bisphenols, flame retardants, phthalates, per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAs) and more. 

“The EU human biomonitoring data found very concerning contamination of EU citizens, particularly children and teenagers. The fact that current body burden from a combination of harmful chemicals can contribute to health impacts is a clear call for action”, CHEM Trust Head of Science, Ninja Reineke, said.

So far, there are no definitive results as the program is so large that data analysis is still processing. 

However, the first results show that there is, for example, widespread exposure to PFASs which exceeds health-based guidance values. 

“All young people tested were found polluted, with around a quarter in one study beyond the level of health concern. A growing number of ‘PFASs hotspots’ were identified, where exposure is around 100 times more than average and “a risk to human health”, the study found. 

Results support the Commission’s first proposal to ban toxic substances to protect EU consumers’ health.

“It is especially important to stop using the most harmful chemicals in consumer products, from toys and childcare products to textiles and materials that come in contact with our food”, said vice president Frans Timmermans back in 2020.

But as of today, many chemicals, such as carcinogens and endocrine disruptors, have no safe level of exposure, summarised HBM4EU

“Systematic regulatory avoidance by chemical companies puts people and the planet in danger as they move from selling one harmful chemical to another. […] President von der Leyen needs to live up to her commitments and get stronger rules published without delay”, CHEM Trust Chief EU Policy Advocate Stefan Scheuer said.

[Edited by Alice Taylor/Benjamin Fox]

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